Cut-and-Paste Culture: The New Collage

1. What are some of the ways that contemporary collage, as described in the article, differs from approaches to collage in the 20th and 21st Century?

One of the more obvious ways in which they differ is the physical medium through which the art is presented. In 21st century collages, pieces often include digital elements, such as television screens playing looping video, or gifs. In the 20th century, these technologies were not quite so easily accessible, nor were the editing softwares. In the late 20th century these things were of course not impossible, but they did not become common until relatively recently. Additionally, the subject matter of the pieces has changed. As culture and society shift, so too does art. While Martha Rosler’s piece showing housewives handing the homes while men are off at war was relevant to the time, the gender roles in society have changed significantly from the 60s, and if created now it would not be as topical.

2. Given what you have seen and read in the article, why do you think collage as a strategy for making appeals to so many artists today?

Given that collages use actual sections of other work, it is an easy way to point a mirror at society. There does not need to be any hypotheticals, the piece is made of examples to support the artist's message. For example, if an artist were to use a collage to criticize body image issues in the media, they could use photoshopped images found in magazines to do so -- no hypotheticals, just evidence. This is shown in Clement Greenberg’s piece reflecting the internet, which he created using assorted pieces of media that he found online. While there is much room for the artist to decide what message he is sending, the piece is constructed of exactly what he is attempting to portray.